In a mixed night for local sides the University of Fort Hare Blues managed a thumping win over the University of KwaZulu-Natal Impi, while the Walter Sisulu University All Blacks crashed to a defeat against the University of the Western Cape in their respective Varsity Shield semifinals on Monday night.
This means that the Blues’ dream of claiming Varsity Shield glory is still alive, while the All Blacks’ impressive debut season has been brought to an end.
This now sets up a mouthwatering final against the high-flying UWC team in Cape Town in two weeks time.
“We are very very happy with the fact that we are through to the final,” said UFH director of rugby Elliot Fana.
“This changes the whole concept for us now because initially we wanted to make the semifinals, but once we had qualified we said we needed to take it game by game and take the opportunities that present themselves, which we did on Monday.
“We actually want to win the competition now, so you can see the progress we have made over the season.”
In Monday’s match the Blues produced an irresistible attacking performance that had the Impi on the ropes from the outset, with the home side cruising through as dominant victors by 45-8.
This will give the team a lot of confidence going into the final.
“There is too much talent in this team for us not to do well and these guys have proven that they deserve to play rugby at the highest level,” claimed Fana. “It is not every day that you play a play-off game and thrash the opposition, so we are pleased with the performance of the boys and the way they went about doing their business.”
Earlier this season in the group stages, the Blues claimed a big win over UWC when they edged them 32-31 in a very entertaining match in Alice, and the team should take confidence from that.
So far it has been the only game that UWC have lost this season and that could also be motivation for them to turn that around in the final.
“We are not reading a lot into the fact that we have played them this season and beaten them at home as this is a completely different game,” admitted Fana.
“We are using the same motivation that we did for the semifinal in that we had played UKZN earlier in the season and lost to them, but we knew that the knockouts are a completely different game and we just have to be ready, so we will be hard at work preparing for the final next month.”
For the All Blacks they will have to reflect on an interesting debut season, in which they learnt many lessons.
The team won five of their six group stage matches, which would have sealed them a home semifinal, but they were punished for fielding ineligible players in their opening two matches that saw them just make it into the semis as the fourth team.
Their final group match of the season was a 50-24 loss against UWC at the BCM Stadium in East London and the team unfortunately could not improve enough to challenge UWC in the semi this past Monday, going down 50-26.
Despite that disappointment, the team should be proud of what they have achieved in their first showing in the competition and should be able to go into next year’s tournament even more prepared and ready than before and that should stand them in great stead.
The Varsity Shield final will take place at UWC in Cape Town on Monday April 10 and will be broadcast live on Supersport1 from 4.30pm.
Blues aim to grab hold of Shield
This means that the Blues’ dream of claiming Varsity Shield glory is still alive, while the All Blacks’ impressive debut season has been brought to an end.
This now sets up a mouthwatering final against the high-flying UWC team in Cape Town in two weeks time.
“We are very very happy with the fact that we are through to the final,” said UFH director of rugby Elliot Fana.
“This changes the whole concept for us now because initially we wanted to make the semifinals, but once we had qualified we said we needed to take it game by game and take the opportunities that present themselves, which we did on Monday.
“We actually want to win the competition now, so you can see the progress we have made over the season.”
In Monday’s match the Blues produced an irresistible attacking performance that had the Impi on the ropes from the outset, with the home side cruising through as dominant victors by 45-8.
This will give the team a lot of confidence going into the final.
“There is too much talent in this team for us not to do well and these guys have proven that they deserve to play rugby at the highest level,” claimed Fana. “It is not every day that you play a play-off game and thrash the opposition, so we are pleased with the performance of the boys and the way they went about doing their business.”
Earlier this season in the group stages, the Blues claimed a big win over UWC when they edged them 32-31 in a very entertaining match in Alice, and the team should take confidence from that.
So far it has been the only game that UWC have lost this season and that could also be motivation for them to turn that around in the final.
“We are not reading a lot into the fact that we have played them this season and beaten them at home as this is a completely different game,” admitted Fana.
“We are using the same motivation that we did for the semifinal in that we had played UKZN earlier in the season and lost to them, but we knew that the knockouts are a completely different game and we just have to be ready, so we will be hard at work preparing for the final next month.”
For the All Blacks they will have to reflect on an interesting debut season, in which they learnt many lessons.
The team won five of their six group stage matches, which would have sealed them a home semifinal, but they were punished for fielding ineligible players in their opening two matches that saw them just make it into the semis as the fourth team.
Their final group match of the season was a 50-24 loss against UWC at the BCM Stadium in East London and the team unfortunately could not improve enough to challenge UWC in the semi this past Monday, going down 50-26.
Despite that disappointment, the team should be proud of what they have achieved in their first showing in the competition and should be able to go into next year’s tournament even more prepared and ready than before and that should stand them in great stead.
The Varsity Shield final will take place at UWC in Cape Town on Monday April 10 and will be broadcast live on Supersport1 from 4.30pm.
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